Burton, John

Burton was the production manager at the Warner Brothers studio for 27 years, leaving in 1960. He was involved with much of the camera work, including the camera work necessary for the studio’s only 3-D cartoon, Lumberjack Rabbit (Jones, 1954). Burton was an executive after 1960 at Pacific Art & Title, the same firm at which Leon Schlesinger had been an executive before opening his cartoon studio.

In his autobiography, Mel Blanc made the uncorroborated claim that the jowly Burton was the model for Sylvester.

A sign for “Burton’s Ale” can be seen in the background in Deduce You Say (Jones, 1956).

The obituary for Burton in Variety notes that he originated the card stunt device in which cards could be flipped to show images during his stint as a student at UCLA.